The Child Nobody Wanted Became the Man Who Refused to Let Anyone Die Feeling Unloved
PART 4 OF 5 — I Survived the Storms, but Life Wasn't Finished Testing Me
By Jeffrey Badders
I told myself that I had experienced South Dakota, but now I wanted to go to a different state. So I went back to Nebraska and worked at the place where I used to work. Because I had left on good terms, I was able to return. I worked in Nebraska for a while, and then I started working in North Dakota and South Dakota.
I remember working in Kearney, Nebraska.
I was still working for medical staffing. At the time, I was working for two different staffing companies because sometimes one company wouldn't have hours available, but the other would. I stayed with the original company I had worked with in South Dakota because they operated in all 50 states.
Working in Kearney was quite an experience. There were a lot of tornadoes in Nebraska, and I had already experienced tornadoes before.
I'll never forget driving through a hailstorm. The hail was about ready to bust my windshield because it was softball-sized. I pulled over and started praying that it would pass.
Eventually, it passed.
And damn, that was quite an experience.
I worked around Kearney for a while, and on the weekends, I had an opportunity to go to Lemmon, South Dakota, to work on an Indian reservation.
At the time, I couldn't find a full-time hospice job, so I had to go back to medical staffing for a little while. It was probably about three months before I finally found another hospice job.
I remember getting paid $500 to drive from Kearney, Nebraska, to Lemmon, South Dakota, near the border of North Dakota and South Dakota.
While I was traveling there, I remember driving into a blizzard.
I pulled over at a truck stop. I had coveralls on, and I had my mattress in my van. I was so cold that I had to lie down in my coveralls, get into my sleeping bag, and zip it up.
That was the coldest night I had ever experienced.
Sometimes, I would start the van to warm it up for a little while and then shut it off again.
I was sitting at that truck stop with a blizzard going on outside.
I'll never forget that.
The next morning, the sun was shining, and the snow started to melt, but it took a long time. People were clearing the roads, and eventually, after about half a day, I was finally able to reach my destination.
I was taking care of people on the reservation. One place was kind of like a nursing home.
It was really sad.
I remember visiting one of the houses on the reservation. Some of those houses had been beautiful, but they were destroyed. There were big holes in the walls, beer bottles, and needles lying around inside.
I didn't understand it.
I took care of some people who struggled with alcoholism, and it was sad to see what was happening in their lives.
It was also scary at times. I remember driving down the street and seeing people who appeared drunk or high walking toward my van. I didn't know them, and those moments frightened me.
I always kept my doors locked when I was driving.
After that experience, I drove back to Nebraska.
I finally found a small hospice company, and I explained my situation. I told them that I was working for two staffing agencies but that I wanted a full-time hospice job.
They offered me a part-time position with the possibility of working my way up.
So I took the part-time job and continued working in Nebraska for quite a while.
Eventually, they sent me to Ogallala, Nebraska.
I remember driving out there one weekend because the facility was short-staffed.
When I arrived, I was saddened by the conditions of the facility and the people being cared for there.
When I walked inside, it smelled like a dog kennel.
I'll never forget that.
I worked only one shift there, and I never went back.
After working for that small hospice company for about six months, I put in my two weeks' notice.
I told myself that I wanted to experience another state.
I was still working for medical staffing, and that company was able to place me in different states.
Before moving to Colorado, I applied for my Colorado license while I was still in Nebraska.
I learned that the hospice company I had been working for in Nebraska had a sister company in Estes Park, Colorado.
Everything worked out, and I was able to transfer to their sister company.
I worked in Estes Park for almost a year.
During the week, I worked for hospice Monday through Friday. On the weekends, I would sometimes drive down the mountain to Fort Collins or Denver for medical staffing work.
I remember the first time I saw moose standing on someone's lawn in Estes Park.
That was one of the craziest things I had ever seen.
Early in the morning, you could see moose, and when it snowed up there, it really snowed.
I remember having to put chains on my tires so I could drive safely down the mountain.
I always made sure I had good, new tires because I never trusted the weather. One day it could be clear, and the next day it could be snowing.
The weather was crazy up there.
When I first arrived, my ears started popping because of the altitude. There wasn't as much oxygen at that elevation, and I could feel the difference.
It kept me on my toes.
I continued running to stay in shape.
I could call myself a workaholic because I really didn't have much of a life outside of work.
Estes Park was beautiful, and I would go out to eat sometimes, but I also knew that I had to sleep and take care of myself if I wanted to keep going.
I worked out at the gym and mostly kept to myself.
Because you have to remember something:
Your health is your résumé.
If you don't keep your health up, it doesn't matter how much money you have or how much experience you have.
You can accomplish many things in life, but without your health, those accomplishments don't mean very much.
During that time, I was living in a motel.
I remember that things would happen at night. People would be screaming, and sometimes they appeared to be drunk.
It was crazy.
Because of my work schedule, I often slept during the day.
Sometimes, when I worked weekend night shifts, I would sleep in my van at the park during the daytime.
It depended on the hours I was working.
If I worked from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., I would sleep during the day.
Those medical staffing shifts were only on the weekends because I worked for hospice Monday through Friday.
Eventually, I had worked long enough to take another vacation.
I had saved the money because I was working all the time.
I really was a workaholic.
If I wasn't staying in motion, I wasn't happy.
And if I wasn't learning something, I felt like I wasn't growing.
So I decided to visit Colorado Springs.
I went to see the United States Air Force Academy and took a tour.
It was a very interesting experience.
I also remember something else from my time in Colorado.
I got to see my very first eclipse.
That was an exciting moment for me.
I remember having to look through special glasses, almost like 3D glasses, to watch it.
It was something I had never experienced before.
And it became another unforgettable memory from my journey through life.
TO BE CONTINUED… PART 5 OF 5